Winter yawned, rolling over to lay a wing across the back of the dragoness laying next to him. Moon smiled, leaning into him as he rested his head on hers.

"Someone's feeling affectionate today."

"Good morning to you too sweetness." Winter held her closer, his ears lighting up at the sound of her laugh.

"Sweetness? Alright, now I know something's up. Who are you, and what have you done with my husband?"

He knew she was joking, but something about that remark… "Am I not normally affectionate enough with you?"

Almost before he'd finished talking she tilted her head up, her snout brushing the underside of his. "Of course you are dear. Sorry if that's how that sounded."

"Sorry" wasn't very Icewing to say, but nothing about Moon was very Icewing, other than her manners.

He loved that, loved her.

"You're hungry darling." She said, just as Winter's stomach began to grumble. His face flushed, and he tried to hide it by sitting up and pretending to rub sleep from his eyes. She sat up as well, nuzzling the side of his neck before getting up and pacing towards their back rooms to wash herself.

Winter got up and stretched, his strict soldier's upbringing still a steady part of his routine. He pulled the leaf curtains open, the green hue staining their room banished by soft morning light.

Heading for the front door, Winter fanned his wings to catch early sun that sunk into his scales. It was summer, and not nearly cold enough to necessitate keeping the heat in for Moon's sake, so he left the door open as flapped up to catch the air currents, searching for prey.

From up here the view of the mountains was glorious. Sky Kingdom peaks reached far to the east, bleeding into the bleached white of the southern Ice Kingdom's vast tundras. The snow dazzled his eyes, sparkling like an impossibly large blanket of IceWing soldiers. A vision appeared behind his eyes, of IceWings coating the ground, a blurred mass of blue and white and red, and then it was gone.

Winter shook his head, swooping lower to scan the trees. A little north from their home was Sanctuary, the town he had helped greatly the found. He'd loved his time there, caring for his scavengers, and working on expansion plans with Riptide. But ever since he and Moon had gotten together it felt as though everyone had looked at him differently. It was as though whenever they were around each other everyone acted like they weren't even there.

He didn't find it hard to believe most of the dragons there had some kind of bad history with NightWings, but even so, that didn't mean he'd force Moon to live their feeling like an outsider. So he'd moved them somewhere a little upstream. Close enough he could still check in from time to time, but far enough for Moon to live with some sense of normalcy. She loved the higher location, and appreciated not having to worry about blocking out everyone's thoughts constantly.

It didn't take long to find a pair of hawks swooping together near a river. He caught them deftly, returning home on strong wingbeats.

When he made it back he found Moon waiting outside for him by the fire pit, her scales polished to a gleam.

Winter landed with a flourish of his great wings. "You look stunning today, is there some event you didn't tell me about?"

She smiled, the sparkle in her eyes making his heart flap wildly. "Well, you always put so much effort into your appearance, I thought I'd do you the same courtesy."

"Oh- you don't.." Winter sputtered a little embarrassed, "You don't have to do that."

"Nonsense." She brushed their wings, bitter cold melting to smooth heat. "And besides, I can't have you constantly upstaging me, can I?"

He barked a laugh, dropping the hawks by the circle of rocks that hemmed in a lit fire. "Upstaging? Are you kidding? Have you ever looked at yourself?"

"You're very kind dear, but I'm pretty sure nearly every dragoness in our school didn't have a crush on you for your winning personality." Watching his expression fall, Moon went on. "Wait, no, I didn't- not like that. I adore your personality, I just-"

"It takes some getting used to." Winter finished for her. When she continued to frown, he added. "Plus, I was a total jerk back then."

That earned a small smile. "Well, I'd definitely say I had my own issues as well."

Winter bent down, picking up his knife and flint, and slicing his blade across the surface of the rock until the sparks produced caught on the thankful still dry kindling in the pit. This was one of the tricks he'd learnt while observing scavengers. He had no idea how they'd discovered it, but it came in mighty handy for a dragon without fire.

"I could just light that for you, you know."

"I'm the one making you breakfast." He replied resolutely, feeding the flames with dry leaves and twigs. "That means you don't have to do any work."

She sighed, but didn't argue. He did his best to pluck the feathers he could from the birds, but Moon assured him she didn't mind. Impaling the two hawks on metal sticks, he held them above the fire, turning them occasionally to make sure they didn't burn on any side.

He'd been on the lookout hawks in particular, because he remembered Moon telling him they were her favourite when they were younger, and they were quite the rare catch in the part of the continent. He'd quite liked them himself, and thought now he'd gone off them, he'd still make it if she liked it.

When they were done he slid hers towards her, cursing as the heat burned his claw.

She giggled, "Well, what did you think was going to happen?"

Before, that kind of remark would have earned a cutting comeback from him, but now he found it a lot easier to laugh at himself. "Well, as you can imagine I don't have much experience with heat."

"True," she agreed, "that's why I'm here to bestow you with such ancient wisdom as 'fire is hot'. What would you do without me?"

He folded a wing over her shoulder and she leaned into his side. What would I do without her?

Once it had cooled down enough, Winter took a bite of his hawk. The cooked taste was foreign, but not unpleasant.

"When was the last time you visited Sanctuary?" Moon asked, glancing down at the distant rooves and smokestacks.

"A few weeks ago." Winter answered, wondering what she was getting at. "Riptide has been quite busy handling everything on his own, but he can manage it."

"Riptide, yes." She said almost fondly. "He and Tsunami were perfect for eachother. I wish I was around to see if anything ever happened between those two."

"Right? I swear they're almost worse than we were." That earned him another laugh, that heavenly sound gracing his ears. "You… you don't want to go back to Sanctuary, do you?"

She shrugged. "I want to be wherever you are Winter."

"Well I want to be wherever you are, so that's no use is it? What do we do then?"

Moon smiled sadly. "I want to, I really, really want to."

She said things like that sometimes, odd, out of place sentences that made him uneasy. He always chalked it up to her having her head in the future, and not realising she'd said it.

"Is there something wrong with your food?"

"Pardon?" She blinked, confused.

"You haven't had any." He nudged the bird with his claw. "Did I overcook it?"

"Oh. No, nothing like that. I just, I don't really like hawks." Before he could respond she continued. "I know I used to, but now, they just remind me of, well, Darkstalker."

She said his name softly, as though she was paranoid the ancient animus would hear them discussing him from beyond the grave.

"Hawks were all we'd really had to eat in the Night Kingdom."

He'd known that, that was exactly why he'd stopped liking them as well.

"Oh, I didn't realise…"

"No! Don't make that face." She cupped his cheeks in her talons, staring into his eyes. "You did a nice, wonderful thing for me and I'm thankful, really."

He sank into her touch, her around him.

"Let's just enjoy the rest of today, alright?"

"Like always?"

"Like always."

They spent long into the evening exploring the peaks, charting any ravines they were confident or crazy enough to venture into.

By the time night was chasing the orange streaks of sunset down the sky they were sweeping back towards their mountain home, laughing together and chasing each other's tails in long spirals

"Did you see the size of that wildcat?" Winter breathed, flapping up to soar above her.

"I did! Good thing I had such a strong, noble warrior to protect me from it." She joked, bumping his side. "You really saved my scales back there."

He wasn't sure he had, the creep of evening had meant the cat hadn't even noticed she was hiding in the shadows behind it, but that didn't stop the compliment from blushing his ears blue.

"So, is that enough adventuring for you, your Highness?"

"Yes." He said, adding after a beat. "But without the 'your Highness'."

"Alright, it's your choice dear."

Dropping down to their slightly parted downway, he opened it fully for her, and closed it softly behind them.

"My, what a gentleman."

"I have my moments."

In an instant he'd swept her up in a flurry of giggles. Winter was strong, but doubtless the fact Moon seemed to have barely grown at all since he'd first met her helped in that maneuver. "Winter!" she cried, holding onto his neck as he spun her around.

He held her close, and she bumped their snouts together. Forest green eyes sparkled up at him, glittering like buried emeralds, or the first budding leaves of spring.

"I love when you make that face. That tragic hero expression, like you want to protect me."

"I want nothing more than to protect you, Moon."

Her smile was sad, but genuine. "I know my love. I'm sorry it didn't turn out that way."

He felt his heart stop, and in the moment hers seemed to still in tandem.

She reached up to brush his cheek, her claw running softly down his scales like running water. "I know you don't like to think about it dear, but you're going to have to move on one of these days."

"I…" Winter sighed. "I'm sorry, sorry about every moment I mistreated you, every insult I threw at you. I never meant any of it, and it was stupid, I know, but that doesn't make it right, and it still eats me up, thinking about how you must've felt when it all…"

He couldn't bring himself to finish, and she didn't make him.

"That day at Jade Mountain." He continued hoarsely. "Watching you… slip away like that. To my claws… I just can't lose you yet Moon, my life is meaningless without you."

"You still blame yourself?" She said softly. "Even once it was all over, when Qibli explained to you I understood the risks of flying into the battle? You couldn't have known who I was, past the smoke and steam, and slashing talons."

Winter felt tears welling up in his eyes, his attempts to stop them breaking as noble as they were futile. The drops fell, heavy and shining, straight through Moon's midnight black scales.

"I never blamed you. And I'd have never risked it if I'd seen you'd end up like this. Isolated, broken, making conversation with a girl that doesn't exist anymore."

She reached up, pulling their heads to rest upon each other.

"I want you to be happy Winter, that's what you deserve. There are dragons who miss you dearly, dragons here, in the present, not dwindling memories like me."

His voice shook as he spoke. "I don't want to forget you Moon."

"Then don't." She twined their tails together, interlocking spirals of black and white all the way down. "But you can't keep clinging to these false moments. You deserve someone who loves you as much as you love her, and you who I can never be that."

Winter trembled, pausing for only a moment to close his eyes before kissing her lightly. She rubbed her snout against his neck, whispering, "Let go, my love."

Winter opened his arms, and the NightWing fell from his grasp.

He opened his eyes, and she was gone.